Denali National Park

This is our third trip into Denali National Park and Preserve. It will never cease to amaze me with it's beauty, solitude, and home of the biggest mountain peak (20,310') in North America, Denali!

The Tall One - Denali

First order of business was driving about 10 miles north of the entrance to get some propane and groceries in Healy. And, of course, a quick stop at the 49th State Brewery.

A replica of the bus from the book/movie "Into the Wild".

So good!

We will be staying in Denali for 5 nights - 2 at Riley Creek, located at the entrance and then 3 at the Teklanika Campground, 29 miles in and the farthest you can drive a personal vehicle to. 

Ron got the bikes out as the Riley Creek area has a bike trail and it's easy to explore.  Weather is nice and a little bit on the warm side!

Riley Creek

Riley Creek is beautiful!

Day 95 is June 26, which means happy milestone birthday to Ron!!! Rode the bikes to the Visitors Center and grilled a steak for dinner.  It was cute when a little red haired boy came up to visit and he sang "Happy Birthday" to Ron!

Our little red headed friend!

Day 96, June 27 is a clear blue sky!!!  This is our day to head to the Tek campground!  It was a beautiful drive.  The mountain was out, just a few clouds wisping around the top. Our campsite has a trail down to the Teklanika River. The water is gray and appears to be running low and slow. I'm afraid it's on the dry side around here. We got the e-bikes out and enjoyed a nice evening ride up the road. It's not too cold at night and we're enjoying sleeping with the window open!

She's just magnificent!

The caribou was playing hide and go seek under the bridge!

June 28 at the Tek campground was overcast and you could really smell the smoke from the fire between here and Fairbanks. We took the trail down to the river and walked in the river bed.  Such pretty pink flowers everywhere!  Did another really long bike ride. We wanted to make it over the Sable Pass but going uphill really took a toll on the battery lol. I think my top speed coming down (using the brakes a lot) was right at 25 mph.  The speed limit is 20.

Had the road to ourselves

The river just seems pretty dry

These purple flowers are everywhere in the river.

Our little visitor. Guess she was making a nest nearby.

Our last day at Tek we took a long walk down the river. Smoke was much better today. We have really enjoyed this peaceful and serene campground.  How blessed are we to be able to be here!

Day 99, June 30, we left Tek headed for K'eusig Ken campground in Denali State Park. But first we were stopping at Riley Creek at the entrance to dump and do laundry.  As we were leaving, we noticed a plume of smoke that wasn't there when we got there an hour or so earlier! We needed to go back to Healy for some errands before heading south and as we got into Denali Village you could see a wildfire in the making, fairly close to the railroad and right above the Denali borough. Emergency vehicles flying in all directions. Tourons crowding the roads and sidewalks. 

It was just getting started as we entered the village.

We went on into Healy for groceries, propane and a stop for nachos at the 49th State Brewery. By the time we left the smoke was getting bad. And as we headed back towards the park entrance, in that short time the fire had really grown by leaps and bounds!  Not a good thing at all, but like I mentioned, it's a little dry.

Can't say we've had caramel corn with a beer before, but it was actually well balanced!

Now that's a plate of nachos!

You can see the smoke in the air as we left Healy to go back past Denali.

Within the hour it had really grown!

And still growing!

The report on the fire this evening said they were evacuating all campgrounds and suspending all travel into the park. I hate that for a lot of people. Like I said - we're blessed. And by some miracle, I was able to move our reservations up; otherwise, we would have been entering the park yesterday and then getting evacuated. 

Well, this is as far north as we will be going this trip. Our travels will be taking us down to the Kenai Peninsula where we are looking forward to some fishing! Kinda sad to have to go back to civilization.